


Pillow Talk

by Go_Fic_Yourself



Category: Generation X, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, This is not how you should solve relationship problems, communication isn't their strong suit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 10:30:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13568721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Go_Fic_Yourself/pseuds/Go_Fic_Yourself
Summary: A familiar conversation takes off in a new direction.





	Pillow Talk

Out of the darkness, or more correctly, into her mind in the dark. \Why are you even with me, Lee?\

This again. The same argument they'd had a dozen times, always when they were both overtired and irritable. She rolled halfway over to look at the clock. It was a quarter of three, which was just about right for Jono's self sabotaging bullshit. 

"B'cuz'I'lv'ya." Her reply fell somewhere between a mumble and a grumble and was said with her face pressed into his arm that she'd fallen asleep on top of a few hours before. 

It took him a moment's pause to realize she hadn't in fact said "Baklava," and return to his train of thought. 

She didn't know how or why, how he always knew when she was starting to wake up or why he thought it was a good time to air his insecurities rather than let her fall back asleep. For her part, she thought this conversation would be better placed post 10 AM and even better post coffee. But if this was where he was he'd probably been up thinking about it for a while and well, that couldn't stand. 

\Y'deserve better, an' could have it easily.\ his voice trudged on towards a familiar conclusion. 

She scooted closer to him, using as little effort as possible to wriggle into his space and nuzzle at his nose with hers. "I can't do better than you. And if you won't believe that," she countered the suspicious look he gave her, "then believe that I don't want better. I want you." She threw a leg over one of his, her ankle hooking on his calf, preempting any attempts to get up.

His eyebrows lowered at her, his displeasure at being so predictable evident. Even irritated he knew better than to speak impulsively, he'd made that mistake a few months back and his words ("You don't even know what you want!") still echo in his mind when it decides to play a loop of his failures for him. Not wanting a repeat of Jubilee's response to that he tried a different angle. \Yeah? For 'ow long? Y've got needs, Jubes.\ The look on her face told him he'd made another mistake.

She bristled at the implication, her eyes narrowing at him as his widened, already realizing (and regretting) his mistake. She took a breath before speaking, not wanting their equally hot tempers to flare and turn this into a fight at ass o'clock at night. Still, she wasn't perfect. "Jesus Christ, Jono." She threw the blankets off herself and sat up next to him. "I don't have any needs that you don't meet, aside from a partner who doesn't just assume what I'm feeling all the time!" She thought about hitting him with her pillow but figured that wouldn't add to her argument. "Would we have lasted this long if I wasn't happy?"

He scrubbed a hand over his face, bandages shifting and a bit of flame flicking out until he patted them back into place. \Yer really gonna tell me you wouldn't rather have a boyfriend who isn't on fire?\

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "If the choice is between you, on fire, or someone else, not, I'm choosing you every time." She reached out and traced the top of his bandages with her finger tips. "The only reason I'd want you less on fire is because it might make you happier. I..." she stroked a hand through his hair and met his eyes without hesitation or pity, "I've only ever known you this way, Sparky. It doesn't even occur to me to think of you different." 

\You don't ever think about kissing?\

She let her smile go a little wicked. "Oh, I think about kissing you all the time."

She got a sense that he was grumbling, though it wasn't exactly in his tone, just a feeling. \Lee, y'know what I mean. Proper kissing, me kissing you back, both of us with mouths.\

She gave a shrug. "I really don't. Like I said, I've never known you with a mouth. It's not on offer and there are so many other things we can do that I don't think about it." Her gaze went a little unfocused for a second. Between missions, teaching and caring for Shogo they hadn't had much of that sort of time lately, and well, she was a woman with needs. "I could keep trying to convince you, or I could show you..." she offered, her hand drifting down his body. 

He caught her hand and held it still. \Jubes.\ his tone was serious even though his eyes had gone dark. 

She huffed a breath in frustration. "I don't know how else to make you believe me. Telling you isn't enough and showing you isn't allowed. I don't know what else is left?" Her voice was a little lost and a little resigned to that. 

\Jubes...'M not tryin'ta make yeh feel bad. I jus'...\ he sought out her hand and turned it over between his, distracting himself in its lines and the texture of her skin. \You've always been so much more. It's hard ta see why ya'd settle fer a miserable bastard with half a face.\ 

She felt like they'd only circled around. "Jono..." she sighed, her smile fond but exasperated. "You're sweet, you're snarky, you like bad movies and great music. You've never treated me like a kid and Shogo adores you. The fact that you're smokin' hot in a figurative sense does a lot to balance out the literal smokin' thing you've got going on." She stopped for a breath but didn't let him interrupt, "I get butterflies when I see you across the quad and when you touch me it feels like it's never for long enough, and when you're away it's always too long. You make me smile, and laugh, and," she let her gaze rake over him, "sometimes scream. We work, like, crazy well, and I love you. Like, real, solid, not going away anytime soon, love. I'm keeping you and if I need to go out in the morning and buy some rings to prove it to you I will." 

If he'd had a jaw it would have dropped at that. Sure, she'd told him she loved him before, but never quite as emphatically and they had never mentioned the possibility of this being forever. Her smile quirked up at the corner. "Caught your attention, did I?" One of his arms looped around her waist and tugged her the rest of the way on top of him. 

\Yeh could say tha'.\ he said, his voice low and bashful. 

Her head dipped down to nuzzle at his nose. "Is that a yes?"

\Jubes, yeh can't propose to me at three AM 'cause I'm sad.\

He could feel her grin when she kissed his cheek. "Why not? You're too busy sacrificing yourself on the alter of 'what I deserve' to do it, and like I said, I'm keeping you. For as long as you'll let me. So...what do you say?" She rested her chin on her hands and waited with feigned patience (he could feel the anxious tapping of one of her feet against the bed). 

Whatever part of his brain handles self destruction and coming up with ways things can go wrong was working at top speed, screaming out unhelpful thoughts in a seemingly endless stream. 

She could change her mind. She could start to feel suffocated. She could realize how much better she could do. Realize that he'd never be the kind of father Shogo deserved. She might want more kids. She might not want more kids. She could decide she wants a normal life, away from the x-men and all the danger that came with them. 

It wasn't easy to push back against that part of himself, but over the years (and often with her help) he'd learned to do it. Between that, and the very firm presence of her on top of him he managed to derail that train and reach out for everything she was offering. 

\Jubilation Starsmore does have a nice ring to it.\

She pulled a face and laughed. "It's TERRIBLE! Shogo Starsmore is even worse! That's it, you're going to have to be a Lee. Jonothon Lee." Her smile went a little wobbly and she had to blink a few times to keep tears from welling. Jono tightened his arm around her, the idea of making their family official hitting him a little harder than he expected. 

\Maybe we can hyphenate.\ he suggested, nuzzling at her temple. \Jubes, you're sure this is what you want?\

Her smile was bright in the dim light, "Am I sure I want to go bicker about rings tomorrow and plan a ridiculous wedding that will probably get crashed by sentinels and then smash those sentinels and live happily ever after with you? Hell yes, that is exactly what I want." 

\Yer a madwoman, y'know that, right?\

"Yeah, but you're gonna marry me, so what does that make you." 

He looked at her, eyes and voice going soft, \Lucky.\


End file.
